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I am the Agony Aunt for Now magazine and have been for the past 15 years.I am also the Relationships Expert for WeightWatchers magazine.

I have also just finished my fourth self-help book which will be published by Right Way in January 2012. I am very excited about it! All of my work is about relationships because, like most women, I am absolutely fascinated with them. I am currently working on a passionate novel…

I have been a journalist all my working life. Curiosity is what drove me into the profession in the first place. At the age of 19, I began my three-year training scheme at IPC Magazines. My first job was on FAB 208, a pop magazine, which was such a thrill to work on. I used to speak to Michael Jackson’s dad once a week for a regular weekly update on the Jackson 5. I also went to Top of the Pops quite often, covering it for a TV column I did for a time. Heady stuff for a teenager!

At the age of 22 I chose to go freelance and have written for many national magazines and newspapers including Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, Company, She, Woman & Home, Woman, Woman’s Own, Woman’s Realm, Bella, Best, Daily Telegraph, Daily Mail, Daily Express, Daily Mirror and the Sunday Mirror. It wasn’t long before I started specialising in relationship features.

I am very interested in how people tick, myself included! While continuing to work in journalism I also became a certificated Relate counsellor. I absolutely loved the two-year training and when I started counselling I felt so privileged to be working with people who were willing to trust me and work with me on their issues. I have never lost that feeling. I am currently having a break from Relate, but I have many years experience working with both couples and singles. And I hope my knowledge of the therapy world contributes to my Agony Aunt Advice column and my books.

Well over 20 years ago, and before my Relate training, I wrote three self-help books, all published. They were ‘The Sensuous Slimmer’, (sex and slimming) ‘Caught In the Act’ (a study of infidelity from all three sides of the triangle) and ‘The Single Parent’s Survival Guide’. I clearly have an evolving interest in the human condition!

Added to that are thousands of hours of counselling experience which gives me additional insight to help others (and hopefully myself!) understand, change and resolve unhelpful behaviour patterns.

With my new book I might be doing a bit of television and radio. I do have some experience of that – interviews and phone-ins etc as a result of my previous books. It was great fun although a little nerve-wracking at times. I have just done something for Sky One, as a confidence coach for an episode of the Promzilla series. Perhaps that will be another string to my bow? Who knows what’s round the corner for us all? And how exciting that is when we look at life positively!